Breakdown of Tengo miedo al suspenso en el examen de español.
Questions & Answers about Tengo miedo al suspenso en el examen de español.
In Spanish, fear is usually expressed with the verb tener (to have), not with estar (to be):
- Tengo miedo. = I’m afraid / I’m scared.
- Literally: I have fear.
«Estoy miedo» is incorrect in standard Spanish.
If you want to use estar, you change the structure:
- Estoy asustado / estoy asustada. = I’m scared.
So:
- Tengo miedo = I feel fear (general, very common).
- Estoy asustado = I am in a scared state (also common, but slightly different wording).
«Al» is the contraction of «a + el».
- a = to / at
- el = the (masculine singular)
- a + el → al
So «tengo miedo al suspenso» literally is:
- I have fear *to the failing grade → *I’m afraid of failing.
You cannot say:
- ✗ tengo miedo a el suspenso
You must contract: - ✓ tengo miedo al suspenso
With tener miedo, you normally use «a» before a noun or an infinitive:
- Tengo miedo a los perros. – I’m afraid of dogs.
- Tengo miedo a volar. – I’m afraid of flying.
So:
- Tengo miedo al suspenso
= I’m afraid of the failing grade (as a thing).
You also see «de» quite a lot, especially before verbs or when talking about a possible event:
- Tengo miedo de suspender. – I’m afraid of (to) fail.
- Tengo miedo de sacar un suspenso. – I’m afraid of getting a failing grade.
Between «miedo a» and «miedo de» before a noun, both are used in practice. Style guides sometimes suggest:
- «de» when you fear something that may really happen (Tengo miedo de un accidente),
- «a» in more general or habitual fears.
But in everyday modern Spanish, speakers mix them a lot, and both «miedo al suspenso» and «miedo de un suspenso» are heard.
In Spain, in an academic context:
- un suspenso = a failing grade / a fail in a subject or exam.
Examples (Spain):
- He sacado un suspenso en matemáticas. – I got a fail in maths.
- Tengo miedo al suspenso en el examen. – I’m afraid of the failing grade in the exam.
So in «tengo miedo al suspenso en el examen de español», «suspenso» is a noun: the result “fail”.
Outside Spain, especially in Latin America, «suspenso» for grades is not usual. You’d hear instead, for example:
- un aplazo, un reprobado, una mala nota, reprobar el examen, etc.
Here it is a noun:
- el suspenso = the failing grade / the fail.
But suspenso can also function as an adjective in some contexts:
- Está suspenso en matemáticas. – He/she is failing maths.
In your sentence, because it has an article (el → al), it’s clearly a noun:
- (a + el) suspenso → al suspenso
Both prepositions can appear with suspenso, but they express slightly different relationships:
suspenso en el examen
→ the fail in/at the exam (the context where the failure happens).suspenso del examen
→ the fail of the exam (more like “the exam’s failing grade” – more possessive).
In practice, with academic results, Spaniards very often say:
- un suspenso en el examen / en matemáticas / en la asignatura
- un suspenso en el examen de español
- un suspenso en matemáticas
So «en el examen» is very natural here: “a fail in the Spanish exam.”
They mean different things:
examen de español
→ an exam whose subject is Spanish, i.e. a Spanish-language course/exam.examen en español
→ an exam that is written or conducted in Spanish, but the subject could be anything (history, science, etc.).
Your sentence:
- el examen de español = the Spanish exam (subject = Spanish).
If you said:
- el examen en español, it would sound like:
- an exam (maybe about another topic) that happens to be in Spanish.
Yes, and many speakers would actually find this more natural and more common:
- Tengo miedo de suspender el examen de español.
= I’m afraid of failing the Spanish exam.
Differences:
Tengo miedo al suspenso en el examen de español.
Focuses on the failing grade as a result.Tengo miedo de suspender el examen de español.
Focuses on the action/event of failing the exam.
Both are correct; the second sounds more typical in everyday speech.
Yes, it is grammatically correct and understandable in Spain:
- Tengo miedo al suspenso en el examen de español.
However, more idiomatic everyday versions in Spain would often be:
- Tengo miedo de suspender el examen de español.
- Tengo miedo de sacar un suspenso en el examen de español.
- Tengo miedo a suspender el examen de español. (also heard)
Your sentence is fine, but it sounds a bit more “constructed” or formal than what many people would spontaneously say.
In Spanish, states and emotions like fear, love, knowledge, etc. are usually expressed with simple (non‑progressive) forms:
- Tengo miedo. – I’m scared.
- Quiero ir. – I want to go.
- Sé la respuesta. – I know the answer.
The progressive «estoy teniendo miedo» is grammatically possible but sounds very odd in normal speech; it would only be used in special, very marked contexts (e.g. analysing one’s feelings in a strange, almost humorous or overly introspective way).
So for normal use, always:
- Tengo miedo, not estoy teniendo miedo.
No, you need an article or another determiner with «suspenso» here.
Correct options:
- Tengo miedo al suspenso. (a + el)
- Tengo miedo de un suspenso. – I’m afraid of a failing grade.
- Tengo miedo de ese suspenso. – I’m afraid of that failing grade.
✗ Tengo miedo a suspenso is ungrammatical. Countable singular nouns in Spanish almost always need an article or determiner.
«Miedo» is a masculine noun:
- el miedo – the fear
- mucho miedo – a lot of fear
In this sentence, its gender doesn’t change any visible article, because it appears with tengo and no article:
- Tengo miedo… – I have fear…
What is masculine and does show gender is «el suspenso»:
- el suspenso → al suspenso
So:
- miedo: masculine noun, but here without article.
- suspenso: masculine noun with el, which becomes al after a.